From underdog stories to history being made, the 2018 World Cup is off to a great start

We are only a couple of days into the 2018 edition of the World Cup in Russia and the footballing world has already been set alight with plenty of talking points and memorable moments.

The opening game between hosts Russia and Saudi Arabia on Thursday (June 14) was preceded by a colourful ceremony celebrating Russian culture and an even more colourful Robbie Williams who flipped the bird on-air.

Match-wise, the game itself turned into a goal-fest and not the (goal-less) draw which some cynics had earlier predicted.

Russia dismantled Saudi Arabia, putting five past them and getting their own tournament off to a flying start. Interestingly, the Russians scored more in this one game than they did throughout the entire World Cup in 2014, when they could only produce a meagre two over three games.

The winners of the previous two editions, Germany and Spain, however had not-so-bright starts.

Mexico took three big points from Germany when they upset the defending champions with a shock 1-0 victory. Though some Mexican fans did not relish the prospect of facing Germany in the first group game, their mood definitely changed when the whistle for full-time came:

The other contender to the title of Greatest Footballer of All Time, one Lionel Messi, unfortunately struggled to follow up on Ronaldo’s opening performance.

His team, Argentina, could only manage a draw with Iceland, a country of around 300,000. To make things worse, Messi also missed a spot kick – an incident which has been immortalised by this ‘beauty queen’ meme.

Fans pointed out that he is not the only one on the team with other obligations outside of football, making Iceland’s achievements seems even more unfathomable:

It’s the first time Iceland are in the World Cup.
We have fewer people than Coventry.
Our coach is a part time dentist.
Our Goalie is a movie producer & our right back works in salt.
Today was our first game & we drew 1-1 against Argentina.
Well in Iceland 🇮🇸 pic.twitter.com/f7ulYlFiXS